People

Renee Bracey Sherman

Renee Bracey Sherman is an award winning reproductive justice activist and the author of Saying Abortion Aloud: Research and Recommendations for Public Abortion Storytellers and Organizations. She is a member of Echoing Ida, a project of Forward Together that amplifies the voices of Black women around critical social justice issues. Bracey Sherman’s work on abortion storytelling and reproductive rights has been featured on BBC, The Guardian, EBONY, Salon, Fusion, TIME, and The Atlantic. In 2015, she was named one of Planned Parenthood’s 99 Dream Keepers in honor of Black History Month. Bracey Sherman earned her Master’s degree in Public Administration from Cornell University.

All Work

The film’s directors said they wanted to show how abortion "has become so politicized that it is being used as a pawn to win presidencies.” But the film left a number of important stories regarding communities of color on the cutting room floor.

The film arrives at a time when personal stories are center stage in the national conversation about abortion, including in the most recent Supreme Court decision, and rightly so. The people who actually have and provide abortions should be driving the narrative, not misinformation and political rhetoric.

Here are several films with breathtaking performances that portray illegal abortion, which you can watch to reflect on how far we’ve come, or on how far we still must go in the fight for abortion access.

Critics have hailed the show for its realistic feminist-leaning plot lines and discussions of sexual consent, rape, and addiction. But while the show offers a depiction of a confident abortion decision, the reality of the situation is pure fiction.

A recent Scandal episode highlighted a few barriers when attempting to seek an abortion while deployed, but what’s a service member to do when she doesn’t have Olivia Pope’s help navigating the system?

Dr. Chastine fights back against anti-choice threats and intimidation by providing the best possible care to her patients, who often travel long distances as additional political and economic hurdles are put in their way.

If Cornell truly wants to see a reduction in incidents of gender-based violence like the one that ended the life of Shannon Jones on Thanksgiving, the school needs to do more to change the culture that has allowed this sort of violence to persist on campus.

Thanks to stigma, a new study shows, people who have had abortions often hesitate to tell more than one or two trusted family members, partners, or friends about the experience. This, in turn, can lead to individual isolation and restrictive government policies.

In a new study, researchers from Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health found that women experiencing intimate partner violence, and who were unable to get the abortion they were seeking, were less likely to escape their abusive relationship.

Black women already have low and inconsistent use of birth control due to access barriers, and Monday's Hobby Lobby decision is one more that puts effective care out of financial reach for many in need.

Because of an article I wrote about my abortion story, people I've never met requested that I kill myself, get raped, die in childbirth, and be sterilized. But I also received love and support from friends and allies, and I'd love to see a whole movement emerge telling people who share their abortion stories: #YouAreLoved.

Breast cancer advocates see the Affordable Care Act as a huge win for Black women, for whom breast cancer is the second most common cancer. But improving access won't address our fear and the stigma associated with illness and poverty; stories of survival can.

Bills like SB 138 in California will enable people like me to access health care, mental health services, birth control, and substance treatments without fear that a parent or partner will find out about it, saving out-of-pocket and state costs along the way.

Activists have taken to Amazon to write reviews of the hot pink sneakers that Wendy Davis wore during her infamous filibuster. Buried in the hundreds of reviews, some of which are very funny, are also some stories about abortion and reproductive rights.